Lauren Unger has completed her third season with LMU in 2025-26, contributing to one of the most historic campaigns in program history. The Lions earned a postseason berth in the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament - just the fourth postseason appearance in program history and the first since 2018-19 - falling in a tightly contested 80-76 matchup on the road at Stanford Cardinal women's basketball. LMU captured the WCC Regular Season Championship outright, the program's first conference title since 2003-04, and posted a 15-3 conference record, the best mark in program history, while finishing with 21 total wins to tie for the second-most in a single season. The Lions also put together a nine-game winning streak - their longest since the 2003-04 championship season - and secured a signature victory over Gonzaga Bulldogs women's basketball, snapping a 35-game losing streak and earning their first win in the series since 2008. Individually, LMU saw a resurgence in conference honors, earning its first All-WCC First Team selections since 2018-19 and placing two players on the First Team in the same season for just the sixth time in program history and the first since 2003-04. Picked ninth in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll, the Lions exceeded expectations while building on strong late-season momentum from 2024-25, when they closed with three straight conference wins and a WCC Tournament victory. Despite early-season injuries limiting key contributors, LMU also posted a resilient 6-5 nonconference record, setting the foundation for a championship run.
Unger joined LMU after spending time at Cal State Northridge, where she served as an assistant coach for two seasons following a year as a volunteer assistant during the 2020-21 campaign. Prior to CSUN, she was the head coach at Western New Mexico from 2016-20, where she played an instrumental role in guiding the program through its transition into the Lone Star Conference, one of the largest and most competitive NCAA Division II leagues. Before her time at WNMU, Unger worked as an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, where she also served as the head coach for the women’s cross country team for three seasons.
A former student-athlete, Unger is a graduate of the University of Texas Permian Basin, where she played four seasons with the Falcons and was named team MVP in 2012 while helping lead the program to its first-ever Heartland Conference Championship in 2011. Following her playing career, she remained with the program as a graduate assistant. A native of San Jose, California, Unger completed her high school education at Midland High School in Midland, Texas, graduating in 2008.
